Is diet pop really non calorie

43mmmgoody21

I noticed that my 2 litre bottle of diet 7 up has some calories (about 4 cals/serving) but that the individual cans have zero (at least the one's online). It got me thinking. Does diet pop have calories but because they have under 5 calories per serving the companies round down to zero?.

Either way i love diet pop (especially cream soda)!

Aaron_K123

I noticed that my 2 litre bottle of diet 7 up has some calories (about 4 cals/serving) but that the individual cans have zero (at least the one's online). It got me thinking. Does diet pop have calories but because they have under 5 calories per serving the companies round down to zero?.

Either way i love diet pop (especially cream soda)!

Yeah, I think they have some calories in the form of carbohydrates just little enough that they can legally round down to zero.

That said you would have to drink A LOT of diet pop to put a dent in your daily calorie requirement so probably not something to worry about.

HaraldurB

There is some calorie amount I think. At least in 0.5L bottles. If the calorie amount is within that limit ( I think it's 4 or less) the company can brand it as "Zero Calories".

43mmmgoody21

I found this (from the American Diabetes Association):

Calorie free means that the product has fewer than 5 calories per serving or another designated amount (make sure to note the size of the serving).

So... if a drank a bottle of diet pop that would definitely be more than zero calories.

Let's assume that diet pop has ~4 calories per serving but because this is fewer than 5 it counts as zero (on the label).
But in reality a bottle of diet pop (2 litres) has about 5.63 servings. Thus bringing the total to 22.5 calories a bottle (not that much but certainly not zero).

If you were crazy enough to drink a whole bottle of diet pop everyday for a year those extra (insignificant) calories would cause over 2 pounds of fat gain.

onefortyone

I feel the same way about that oil spray/zero calorie pam stuff. I'm sure the 1/4 second spray serving size is 0 cals, yeah right

If that was 4 calories a 'serving', then I spray for so long that I might as well use regular oil lol.

43mmmgoody21

I feel the same way about that oil spray/zero calorie pam stuff. I'm sure the 1/4 second spray serving size is 0 cals, yeah right

If that was 4 calories a 'serving', then I spray for so long that I might as well use regular oil lol.

I use the butter spray with reckless abandon on my popcorn-- that's definitely more than the recommended serving (and probably adds up to many unaccounted calories). So for now on, i might count non-calorie foods (that i use way above the usual serving) as 4 calories (this will keep me mindful of the fact that they do have calories albeit very little)

Lifelink

I'm getting fatter just reading this thread.

Pathend2

I'd just like to point out that calling soda "pop" drives me batty.

Please, continue.

geebusuk

And calling 'pop' soda is irksome .

In the UK we don't have the five calorie rule, so the 'zero' products still list calories - and similarly, we have 1 calorie spray rather than 0 calorie spray I believe America has.

kjarvo

And calling 'pop' soda is irksome .

In the UK we don't have the five calorie rule, so the 'zero' products still list calories - and similarly, we have 1 calorie spray rather than 0 calorie spray I believe America has.

I remember reading somewhere that in the US they can't claim the sprays have 1 calorie in because it's almost saying it is giving nutrition that it hasn't got. On the other hand in the UK we can't say it has no calories when it does, so we round up. It's a different way of looking at it.
So for smaller portions, I think they can just round down say 0.75 of a calorie, but a bigger portion goes over 1 so they can't just say it contains nothing.

(I'd also be more likely to call it pop than soda. Soda annoys me too. But normally a 'fizzy drink', a 'soft drink' or just 'coke'. Different words, same thing.)

dunnodunno

I noticed that my 2 litre bottle of diet 7 up has some calories (about 4 cals/serving) but that the individual cans have zero (at least the one's online). It got me thinking. Does diet pop have calories but because they have under 5 calories per serving the companies round down to zero?.

Either way i love diet pop (especially cream soda)!

I'm not sure about most brands, but I do know that Diet Mountain Dew puts on their 20 ounce bottles that it has ten calories per bottle.

43mmmgoody21

I'd just like to point out that calling soda "pop" drives me batty.

Please, continue.

Where i'm from (Canada) we've always called drinks like Coke/Pepsi... pop. But my use of language is but one of many ways I drive people batty.

geebusuk

I remember reading somewhere that in the US they can't claim the sprays have 1 calorie in because it's almost saying it is giving nutrition that it hasn't got. On the other hand in the UK we can't say it has no calories when it does, so we round up. It's a different way of looking at it.
So for smaller portions, I think they can just round down say 0.75 of a calorie, but a bigger portion goes over 1 so they can't just say it contains nothing.

(I'd also be more likely to call it pop than soda. Soda annoys me too. But normally a 'fizzy drink', a 'soft drink' or just 'coke'. Different words, same thing.)

I should note I don't actually like the word 'pop' myself. But it'd have rather ruined the reply to make that clear at the time :P.
I note that use 'pop' in the norf (well, West Yorks) quite a bit. Also seem to call squash 'juice'.

So yea; 'fizzy drink' or similar for me, too.


In the US it's actually 5 calories that's the cut off I believe - under 5 and it can be called '0'.